


Missing

by Salmon_I



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Chronic Illness, Gen, Memory Loss, Ten year gap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 05:30:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20773340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salmon_I/pseuds/Salmon_I
Summary: “Can I help you?”  The woman at the desk asks.“I want to file a missing person’s report.”“How long have they been missing?”  She clicked open a file on her computer.“I’m not sure.  Eight hours at least. Maybe twelve.”“Is this a minor?”“No, it’s my mother.  She’s in her forties.”  Maria could tell by the look on the woman’s face what came next.“An adult has to be missing twenty-four hours before a missing person’s report can be filed.  Do you have reason to believe she might be in danger?”“Well, I don’t know.”  She was forced to admit.“Maria DeLuca?”  A familiar voice broke in.  Maria turned to find Sheriff Jim Valenti standing behind her.





	Missing

Maria didn’t think much about it when her mother wasn’t there when she woke up. She’d slept past ten after having helped close the bar the previous evening. Mimi had started to have trouble remembering things, and occasionally talked about odd subjects - Aliens and things from other worlds. Still, most days she was very much herself. If she was gone, Maria figured she was probably doing some shopping, or perhaps getting some lunch out.

It wasn’t until she’d made her own brunch and cleaned up - planning to head to the bar that things began to seem wrong. The front door wasn’t locked, and she knew her mother always locked it before going to bed. Her car was still parked behind the bar as well. Perhaps where she’d wanted to go was walking distance, but The Wild Pony was at the edge of the town.

She dialed up her mother’s cellphone, but her ringtone rang out from her mother’s bedroom. When she saw the phone plugged in on the nightstand, Maria began to worry. She’d taken a break from college when her mother had been forced to admit she was having memory troubles. She’d just turned twenty one when she came back to town - old enough to finally work behind the bar top. It was a relief to be able to take on some of the work that might be causing her mother stress. She’d hoped it would help her condition, but so far nothing seemed to have improved. If anything, her moments of confusion seemed to be increasing. The last year had been filled with doctor's appointments and medical tests. They’d driven as far as Albuquerque and Santa Fe for specialist opinions. A year later, and they were still without any answers. Nobody knew what was happening to her mother.

Maria paced the bar floor as she waited, but after another hour she couldn’t take it anymore. Getting in her car she started to drive around town - stopping at all the places she could think of that she might have gone. The Crashdown Cafe, Bean Me Up, one of the local liquor stores she sometimes bought at when their supply order didn’t come in right - even the UFO Emporium.

When it started to get late, Maria called up one of their most trusted bartenders and asked if he could go start getting The Wild Pony ready to open for her. He agreed without asking too many questions. When the New Mexico desert began to burn red with sunset, Maria found herself entering the police station.

“Can I help you?” The woman at the desk asks.

“I want to file a missing person’s report.”

“How long have they been missing?” She clicked open a file on her computer.

“I’m not sure. Eight hours at least. Maybe twelve.”

“Is this a minor?”

“No, it’s my mother. She’s in her forties.” Maria could tell by the look on the woman’s face what came next.

“An adult has to be missing twenty-four hours before a missing person’s report can be filed. Do you have reason to believe she might be in danger?”

“Well, I don’t know.” She was forced to admit.

“Maria DeLuca?” A familiar voice broke in. Maria turned to find Sheriff Jim Valenti standing behind her.

“Sheriff Valenti.” She greeted him.

“Is everything okay?”

“No, I… I think my mother’s missing.”

“Mimi?” A complicated series of emotions played across his face. Something tugged on her psychic senses. Something that told her Valenti was instantly suspicious of someone regarding this news. “When did you last see her?”

“Well, after we closed up last night would be the last time I saw her. She was gone this morning, and she hasn’t come back. I’ve checked all over town and nobody says they’ve seen her.”

“Did she take her car?”

“No.”

“Was there any sign of forced entry? Did you hear anything last night?”

“No, she’s just…” Maria felt tears threaten, and she blinked them back.

“I’ve got this.” He told the woman at the desk, and she nodded. Valenti led her to his office and gestured to a chair.

She nodded at him, grateful, and sat down. “The door to our apartment was unlocked. Like she’d just stepped out for a moment. She’s… she’s been having memory troubles.”

“I heard you’d come back this past year to help her out - but most people seem to think it was just that she needed help with the bar.” Valenti informed her.

Maria shook her head. “No, she’s been forgetting things. Whole days even. And she talks about strange things sometimes. Things that… she talks about aliens.”

Valenti’s face didn’t change, but Maria could sense something more. Something that told her he was alarmed by the news. “Aliens? Like the 1947 UFO crash?”

“She keeps saying the aliens are here. Living among us.” Maria confessed. “And then she just snaps out of it, and everything is normal for days. She’s never disappeared before, though.”

“I can’t file a report for twenty-four hours, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look for her. Especially if she’s been experiencing confusion.”

Maria felt relieved, and she nodded. “I can leave you my cellphone number.”

“That’s a good start. You might actually want to go home, though. That way if she returns there you can contact us. I’ll send some people out - they’ll start with a sweep of the area around The Wild Pony and then we’ll circle out from there. What time did you know she was gone this morning?”

“Shortly after ten.”

“If she’s not back by ten tomorrow, I can file the report and give more manpower to the search. Does that sound good?”

It sounded like so little, especially as concern tightened her insides into a knot, but all Maria could do was nod. There was no proof her mother was in danger, and Valenti was no doubt doing all he could. “I’ll head back to the Wild Pony.”

“Maria, have you seen Jesse Manes lately?”

“Master Sergeant Manes? Alex’s father?” Maria glanced at him confused. “No, he doesn’t really come to The Wild Pony. The last Manes I saw was Flint - when he was on leave a few weeks ago. Why?”

Valenti shook his head. “No specific reason. Just that his men sometimes take it upon themselves to patrol areas. They don’t really have any jurisdiction off base, but I thought maybe one of his soldiers might have noticed something if they had been. Any strangers hanging around town.”

He was lying, but Maria wasn’t sure about what. “We don’t really talk. Mother’s never liked him very much.”

Valenti nodded. “If he… if he does come around, give me a call, will you? I just want to ask him some questions.”

“I mean, I don’t think he will, but sure.” Maria promised.

“I grew up with your mother, Maria. I’ll do everything I can to find her.”

Maria nodded, feeling like the conversation was hinting at something she didn’t understand. When her mother walked into the Wild Pony that night, confused and talking about aliens again, Maria felt relieved more than anything. Her mother woke up the next morning with no memory of the previous thirty-six hours, though. The next scan by the doctor still revealed nothing wrong with her brain, and he gave her the card of yet another psychologist.

When the experience repeated itself the next month, Maria found herself back at the police station. Six months and six incidents later, Valenti didn’t ask why she was there. Six months after that Maria stopped going to the police altogether.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m pretty sure Maria and her mother live at the bar (seeing as Maria is there at all hours and it’s where her mother returns to when she wanders), but I’m also pretty sure it’s a one-story building? So my headcanon was that there’s a small apartment connected to the building that’s their living area. I’m not sure what the full history of Mimi DeLuca, Jim Valenti, and Jesse Manes is, but darn I want to know.


End file.
